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November 2013

November 28, 2013

+ In the Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

For those of us who were alive and aware on November 22, 1963, the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination was a poignant reminder of that day and that time.

Last Thanksgiving, I reproduced in our bulletin President Abraham Lincoln's first Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1862, on the 150th anniversary of that Proclamation. That Thanksgiving occurred in April, after the Union's victory at Shiloh.

I also reproduced Lincoln's second Proclamation, in 1863, the Proclamation that established the last Thursday in November as our annual Thanksgiving Day. Today is the 150th anniversary of our modern Thanksgiving.

So I thought this year it would be fitting to publish what I had assumed would be President Lyndon Baines Johnson's first Thanksgiving Day proclamation just days after President Kennedy's assassination.

Instead, I discovered President Kennedy's Proclamation,* dated November 4, only 18 days before he was killed. My reaction was immediate and visceral— when he signed that proclamation he had no idea how little time he had left, how suddenly his life would end— and neither do we have any idea how little time we may have left, and how suddenly our lives might end.

And immediately on the heels of that thought came this— that Thanksgiving above all should be thanksgiving for our lives, thanksgiving for life itself.

On December 29, 1963, the Chicago Sun-Times published this special section on Kennedy's assassination and the days following, and I have kept it all these years. I decided to see if there was anything in it I could use in this morning's sermon.

When I retrieved it I found this— a copy of the sermon I preached on the first Thanksgiving after 9-11, which, amazingly, fell on November 22nd in 2001. I had completely forgotten that I had used this special section 12 years ago on that first post 9-11 Thanksgiving.

Here's part of what I said:

"I'm going to ask a question now, and if you know the answer, please just raise your hand. Here's the question: What happened 38 years ago today?"

Only about 1 in 5 members of the congregation raised their hands.

I continued:

"38 years ago today, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. November 22, 1963, was my generation's 9-11. It is at once painful and reassuring to realize how November 22 has faded from the nation's consciousness." . . .

"In 1963, Thanksgiving Day fell only six days after the assassination. The cover of the Chicago Sun-Times had as its headline: "Thanksgiving, 1963," and then, in a bordered box the concluding words of President Johnson's address to Congress the day before."

It was President Johnson's address to Congress** that I had mistakenly remembered as his Thanksgiving Proclamation.

Here's how I concluded my sermon on that first Thanksgiving following 9-11:

"In 1963 our nation worried about its future, just as we worry today. Yet the worries of that age are largely forgotten, and much that is wonderful and good has happened since then, because men and women transcended their worries and worked together for justice, equality, and peace."

In many ways, those words are as true today, 12 years after 9-11, as they were then, 38 years after 11/22.

If you read President Kennedy's Proclamation— and this I am sure will be true for all of our presidents' Proclamations— you will find striking similarities with this morning's reading from Deuteronomy.

For example, President Kennedy writes about our nation's struggles just as the Deuteronomist writes about Israel's struggles.

And compare these two passages— the first from Deuteronomy:

"Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house" (Deuteronomy 26:11).

And now this from President Kennedy:

"Let us therefore proclaim our gratitude to Providence for manifold blessings—let us be humbly thankful for inherited ideals—and let us resolve to share those blessings and those ideals with our fellow human beings throughout the world."

I began this sermon by observing that "Thanksgiving above all should be thanksgiving for our lives, thanksgiving for life itself." Our Gospel this morning is all about life.

Leading up to this morning's Gospel (John 6:25-35), Jesus has just fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread. The people are so excited that they want to make him king then and there, so Jesus evades them. It's like the beginning of Jesus' ministry, when the devil tempts him to turn stones into loaves of bread, and Jesus quotes another passage from Deuteronomy: "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

When the people finally track him down again, Jesus says to them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves." In other words, the people didn't realize the significance— the sign-ificance— of his feeding 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread.

So Jesus explains to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you [present tense! right now!] the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

To which the ever obtuse people respond: "Give us this bread always"— as if any sort of physical bread could give life, much less eternal life. So Jesus says plainly, "I am the bread of life."

The word "Eucharist" means Thanksgiving, and in just a moment we will receive "the bread of God which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

And later today, as we gather around our Thanksgiving tables, let us remember to give thanks not only because we ate our fill of the food— let us also give thanks because all of that food is a sign— a sign of God's love for us, and a sign of God's life in us.

Thanks be to God.

+ + +

* By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and in Massachusetts, far from home in a lonely wilderness, set aside a time of thanksgiving. On the appointed day, they gave reverent thanks for their safety, for the health of their children, for the fertility of their fields, for the love which bound them together and for the faith which united them with their God.

So too when the colonies achieved their independence, our first President in the first year of his first Administration proclaimed November 26, 1789, as "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God" and called upon the people of the new republic to "beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions . . . to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue . . . and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best."

And so too, in the midst of America's tragic civil war, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day to renew our gratitude for America's "fruitful fields," for our "national strength and vigor," and for all our "singular deliverances and blessings."

Much time has passed since the first colonists came to rocky shores and dark forests of an unknown continent, much time since President Washington led a young people into the experience of nationhood, much time since President Lincoln saw the American nation through the ordeal of fraternal war--and in these years our population, our plenty and our power have all grown apace. Today we are a nation of nearly two hundred million souls, stretching from coast to coast, on into the Pacific and north toward the Arctic, a nation enjoying the fruits of an ever-expanding agriculture and industry and achieving standards of living unknown in previous history. We give our humble thanks for this.

Yet, as our power has grown, so has our peril. Today we give our thanks, most of all, for the ideals of honor and faith we inherit from our forefathers—for the decency of purpose, steadfastness of resolve and strength of will, for the courage and the humility, which they possessed and which we must seek every day to emulate. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.

Let us therefore proclaim our gratitude to Providence for manifold blessings—let us be humbly thankful for inherited ideals—and let us resolve to share those blessings and those ideals with our fellow human beings throughout the world.

Now, Therefore, I, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America, in consonance with the joint resolution of the Congress approved December 26, 1941, 55 Stat. 862 (5 U.S.C. 87b), designating the fourth Thursday of November in each year as Thanksgiving Day, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 28, 1963, as a day of national thanksgiving.

On that day let us gather in sanctuaries dedicated to worship and in homes blessed by family affection to express our gratitude for the glorious gifts of God; and let us earnestly and humbly pray that He will continue to guide and sustain us in the great unfinished tasks of achieving peace, justice, and understanding among all men and nations and of ending misery and suffering wherever they exist.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

DONE at the City of Washington this fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-eighth.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the House, Members of the Senate, my fellow Americans:

All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today. The greatest leader of our time has been struck down by the foulest deed of our time. . . .

The dream of conquering the vastness of space—the dream of partnership across the Atlantic—and across the Pacific as well—the dream of a Peace Corps in less developed nations—the dream of education for all of our children—the dream of jobs for all who seek them and need them—the dream of care for our elderly—the dream of an all-out attack on mental illness—and above all, the dream of equal rights for all Americans, whatever their race or color—these and other American dreams have been vitalized by his drive and by his dedication. . . . This Nation will keep its commitments from South Viet-Nam to West Berlin. We will be unceasing in the search for peace; resourceful in our pursuit of areas of agreement even with those with whom we differ; and generous and loyal to those who join with us in common cause.

In this age when there can be no losers in peace and no victors in war, we must recognize the obligation to match national strength with national restraint. We must be prepared at one and the same time for both the confrontation of power and the limitation of power. We must be ready to defend the national interest and to negotiate the common interest. This is the path that we shall continue to pursue. Those who test our courage will find it strong, and those who seek our friendship will find it honorable. We will demonstrate anew that the strong can be just in the use of strength; and the just can be strong in the defense of justice.

And let all know we will extend no special privilege and impose no persecution. We will carry on the fight against poverty and misery, and disease and ignorance, in other lands and in our own.

. . .

First, no memorial oration or eulogy could more eloquently honor President Kennedy's memory than the earliest possible passage of the civil rights bill for which he fought so long. We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights. We have talked for one hundred years or more. It is time now to write the next chapter, and to write it in the books of law.

I urge you again, as I did in 1957 and again in 1960, to enact a civil rights law so that we can move forward to eliminate from this Nation every trace of discrimination and oppression that is based upon race or color. There could be no greater source of strength to this Nation both at home and abroad.

. . .

We meet in grief, but let us also meet in renewed dedication and renewed vigor. Let us meet in action, in tolerance, and in mutual understanding. John Kennedy's death commands what his life conveyed—that America must move forward. The time has come for Americans of all races and creeds and political beliefs to understand and to respect one another. So let us put an end to the teaching and the preaching of hate and evil and violence. Let us turn away from the fanatics of the far left and the far right, from the apostles of bitterness and bigotry, from those defiant of law, and those who pour venom into our Nation's bloodstream.

I profoundly hope that the tragedy and the torment of these terrible days will bind us together in new fellowship, making us one people in our hour of sorrow. So let us here highly resolve that John Fitzgerald Kennedy did not live—or die—in vain. And on this Thanksgiving eve, as we gather together to ask the Lord's blessing, and give Him our thanks, let us unite in those familiar and cherished words:

November 25, 2013

Last week I introduced this reading from The Revelation to John 19:11-16 by noting that "just as 'we love because God first loved us' (1 John 4:19), so we are faithful because Jesus Christ is Faithful— even when we're faithless.

The apparently warlike imagery in the passage is turned upside-down by the Gospel imagery:

"Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithfuland True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself.

"He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood [not from his shedding the blood of others but from his crucifixion], and his name is called The Word of God [from John's Gospel— "and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us"].

"And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, ["the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints" (Rev. 19:8) were following him on white horses.

"From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations ["from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword (Rev. 1:16)— and also, Hebrews 4:12: "the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword."], and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, 'King of kings and Lord of lords.'"

In other words, spiritual warfare is fought with the weapons of faithfulness and righteous deeds and the Word of God.

SPECIAL THANKSGIVING DAY SERVICE AT 10:00 AM

Join us as we gather together on Thursday to ask the Lord's blessing and give thanks for God's bounty. A piper will lead us in singing Amazing Grace to the bagpipe!

2. African Team Ministries Jewelry and Crafts will be on sale in the Rector's Office after all three practices.

Cross off some of your Christmas gift lists and support East African children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

PICTORIAL DIRECTORY HALF-DONE!

This is the last week for signups for the pictorial directory.

I am also looking for someone to host on Saturday, December 7th from 230 pm - 5:00pm.

Thanks, Barb Schaper bschaper7@aol.com or 847-948-8989.

CHRISTMAS BRASS AND CHRISTMAS FLOWERS SIGN-UP TIME!

Please contribute to make our Christmas celebrations festive in sound and sense while giving thanks for or giving in memory of a loved one or ones.

Sign-up sheets are on the table opposite the parish office.

SIGN UP FOR CHRISTMAS PAGEANT PARTS!

We are looking forward to our 2013 Christmas Pageant on Sunday, December 15th, and we hope that all St. Gregory's youth will participate.

And we need adult volunteers to help with the Pageant and Brunch.

Thanks! Michele Appelbaum

PUMPKIN PATCH YOUTH VOLUNTEERS— A SPECIAL THANK YOU GIFT!

Next Sunday, December 8, at the Nine O'Clock Service, we will hand out Pumpkin Patch Bracelets designed and crafted by Jenna Tross!

We will also give bracelets to the adult volunteers who worked more than four shifts.

WE ARE READY FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS BASKETS!

Beginning this weekend you may bring your Christmas baskets to Founder's Hall until the end of the day on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Please place your boxes in the south alcove by the bay windows.

This year, there will be a special section (marked with signs) if you have one or two boxes for your family/senior.

Some hints to consider:

1. use boxes that one person can carry by themselves and that will also fit in smaller cars as many of these families/seniors do not have large vans

2. use the sample labels which were included with your family information and clearly mark the labels with marker pens, not ball point pens

3. remember to include a grocery (Jewel) gift card for the family/senior INSIDE the box(es).

4. if you wish to turn in an In Kind Donation forms, you may give them to me and I will be glad to take them to the Shelter for you. You can also give them to the truck drivers on the day of the pick-up. Please do not include them inside the boxes.

There is a sign-up sheet for any of you who can help with loading the Cathedral Shelter truck when it comes to St. Gregory's on Thursday morning December 5th.

The truck will arrive sometime about 9:30, and will take about an hour. If you have any questions about the truck loading, you can either e-mail or call Dorthea White.

If you have any other questions, please call me. Thank you. Marilyn Knilans

LIN REICHENBACH'S SIXTH AND LAST ANNUAL KNITWEAR SALE!

On Sunday, December 8th, Lin will host her last Knitwear Sale in Founders Hall following all three practices.

Her hand-knit mittens, hats, scarves and ear warmers will be available.

Lin will donate one pair of mittens to our Mitten Tree for every item sold, and all of her proceeds will go to Jim Collins' Special Music Functions Fund.

"Transforming children to fly to new heights," addresses "the volunteer and financial needs of local agencies that exist to enrich the lives of children, regardless of their race, ethnic background, gender or religious affiliation."

Vitality grants to missions such as St. Martin's on Chicago's west side, a new Hispanic ministry at St. Mark's Glen Ellyn, and Church of the Advent in Logan Square will be made possible with restored diocesan assets.

A not-for-profit child welfare agency assists at-risk youth and their families through a seamless delivery of services designed to develop the self-worth, knowledge, and skills they need to lead independent and productive lives.

Residential program for women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, addiction, and life on the street, supported by Thistle Farms and the Thistle Stop Café which sells products made by the women, and donations.

"Our dear family, thank you so much for all your prayers to us. Now we would like to ask your prayer again with regards to our next activities this coming December 7.

"We will be having another Jesus party. What we plan to do is this—we will gather all the kids from the four locations of our feeding program and we are expecting around two hundred kids. And some parents from our Bible study groups will also be joining in this celebration.

"We will ask each location to give a presentation, then, testimonies from the youth and kids— followed by a meal then giving them gifts of can goods, rice and other items which they can use for their Christmas family celebrations.

"We did this last Christmas and we've seen the joy of all the kids. We are so grateful for a church in the USA partnering with us in this."

November 19, 2013

Did you know there's a daily Bible reading plan in our Book of Common Prayer, beginning on page 934?

I'd be delighted to help you navigate the Daily Office Lectionary so you can, in the felicitous phrase of last Sunday's Collect: "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" the Holy Scriptures.

Last Friday, this was the reading from The Revelation to John:

"Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithfuland True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, 'King of kings and Lord of lords' (19:11-16).

Just as "we love because God first loved us" (1 John 4:19), so we are faithful because Jesus Christ is Faithful— even when we're faithless. And that's because his very name— that is to say, his very essence— is Faithful.

to be continued next week. . .

PICTORIAL DIRECTORY UPDATE

We are looking forward to our first weekend of photography sittings for our pictorial directory.

We have many openings for our next set of photography sittings on Friday, December 6th, 2:00-9:00 pm and Saturday, December 7th, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm.

Please sign up to be part of our directory.

I am looking for additional volunteers to host on both Friday, November 22nd, from 4:30 to 6:45 pm, and again from 6:45 - 9:00 pm; and on Saturday, November 23rd, from12:30 to 2:45 pm and again from 2:45 to 5:00 pm.

Please let me know if you can help for any of these times.

Thanks, Barb Schaper bschaper7@aol.com or 847-948-8989.

IMPORTANT GIVING CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM AL BAZZONI, CHAIRMAN

Last Sunday, Jim Mortell, one of our very fine parish office volunteers, delivered this message at all three services:

"Good morning. I'm Jim Mortell, one of five parishioners who volunteer to open our office each morning and complete assigned secretarial/clerical duties. With my fellow volunteers' support, I will read to you the following statement and request your support.

"Publishing the Sunday bulletins you are holding, and the Prayers of the People you just heard read, and mailing newsletters some parishioners need to receive at home— these and many other administrative tasks are all handled by volunteers because St. Gregory's has not funded a Secretary for the past 3 years.

"We five do a pretty good job of taking care of the basics at the office! But all of us agree that there should be more consistency in how tasks are handled, that there are things each of us does not know how to do, and that there are things we just do not get around to each week.

"Our office— your parish office— is closed after 12:30 pm during the week. After 12:30 phone calls are not answered, packages have to be re-delivered, and people with pastoral needs may find our doors closed to them. Father Bill has graciously picked up quite a few "clerical responsibilities," which surely does not seem like a good use of his time.

"Part time volunteers cannot provide the level of administrative support that this parish deserves. We need the consistency of one capable administrator every day of the week to handle all office functions and to use available volunteers judiciously.

"For the past 25 years our Pastor has dedicated himself to St. Gregory's spiritual and operational growth. As I have said, Father Bill has now assumed a number of administrative duties as well. When he retires in 18 months, his successor will still be handling these duties unless we do something NOW. And what about the Rector who succeeds Bill? He or she will surely need administrative support in place to successfully transition to the job.

"Do we, as a parish, really want Bill to be saddled with clerical responsibilities? The 5 of us currently volunteering think not! This is a problem we need to solve.

"We urge you to help build up the 2014 Operating Budget to fund an Administrator for our office. You can assist by PLEDGING this coming year if you have not pledged before, OR by INCREASING the amount you are giving to this year's Operating Budget.

"Let us join together to accomplish this goal in 2014!"

THIS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24

We welcome back Canon Carl Gerdau, St. Gregory's Interim Rector Emeritus, to speak at the Adult Forum at 10:10 am.

THE FOLLOWING SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

We welcome back as our preacher and Adult Forum speaker Deacon Lou Ness, the Executive Director of Shelter Care Ministries, which recently received a grant of $2,000 from our Parish Tithe as recommended by our Missions Board and approved by the Vestry.

SIGN UP FOR CHRISTMAS PAGEANT PARTS!

We are looking forward to our 2013 Christmas Pageant on Sunday, December 15th, and we hope that all St. Gregory's youth will participate.

And we need adult volunteers to help with the Pageant and Brunch.

Thanks! Michele Appelbaum

COMMUNITY MEALS MINISTRY THANK YOU!

We had 18 hardworking volunteers at the Soup Kitchen this past Sunday.

Thanks to the following people for providing desserts: the Baddeleys, the Caldwells, Anne Clark, the Foltz's, Fran Ingram, Mary Keller, the Nicholas's, the Schapers, Cissy Singleton, and the TenEycks.

Our next turn to serve is Sunday, February 9, 2014.

Barb Schaper and Janet and Bill Foltz

PUMPKIN PATCH YOUTH VOLUNTEERS— A SPECIAL THANK YOU GIFT!

On Sunday, December 8, at the Nine O'Clock Service, we will hand out Pumpkin Patch Bracelets designed and crafted by Jenna Tross!

We will also give bracelets to the adult volunteers who worked more than four shifts.

CHRISTMAS BASKET ALERT

Beginning this weekend you may bring your Christmas baskets to Founder's Hall until the end of the day on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Please place your boxes in the south alcove by the bay windows.

This year, there will be a special section (marked with signs) if you have one or two boxes for your family/senior.

Some hints to consider:

1. use boxes that one person can carry by themselves and that will also fit in smaller cars as many of these families/seniors do not have large vans

2. use the sample labels which were included with your family information and clearly mark the labels with marker pens, not ball point pens

3. remember to include a grocery (Jewel) gift card for the family/senior INSIDE the box(es).

4. if you wish to turn in an In Kind Donation forms, you may give them to me and I will be glad to take them to the Shelter for you. You can also give them to the truck drivers on the day of the pick-up. Please do not include them inside the boxes.

Next Sunday, November 24th, there will be a sign-up sheet for any of you who can help with loading the Cathedral Shelter truck when it comes to St. Gregory's on Thursday morning December 5th. The truck will arrive sometime about 9:30, and will take about an hour.

If you have any questions about the truck loading, you can either e-mail or call Dorthea White.

If you have any other questions, please call me. Thank you. Marilyn Knilans

REASSURING NEWS FROM THE PHILIPPINES

1.

Hello Father Bill,

Thank you for touching base with us. We are all ok, by God's grace.

Metro Manila was spared, but the other provinces were really badly hit.

Do continue to pray for the Philippines.

Warmly, Fernando [Soberano, former Sexton]

2.

Just two days ago I was in Tacloban.

I was there for around a week staying with a missionary couple who started up a Christian international school in Tacloban. They wanted me to help out with a translation team they were forming.

I was able to get out of Tacloban in the nick of time.

Praying though that you will comfort the many people in that part of the Philippines that are suffering lost loved ones or homes.

November 12, 2013

Last week Robert Farrar Capon introduced the connection between faith and fiduciary: "That's fiduciary, f-i-d: as in fides in Latin— and as in pistis in Greek . . . as in faith in plain English." [The Parables of Judgment (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1989), pp. 83].

Just today, as I was reading Sarah Ruden's Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time (New York: Image Books, 2010), I read this:

"Pistis/fidesalways had to do with trustworthiness or trust, but its applications among polytheists were almost opposite to those in the New Testament. . . .

Before Christianity, neither the Greeks nor the Romans seem ever to have used the concept in what we would call a spiritual sense— that would have broken it and re-formed it forever for them, which is in fact what Christianity did.

Carl helped St. Gregory's accomplish the necessary tasks before calling its new Rector back in 1988 (that would be me).

After St. Gregory's, Carl served Frank Griswold when he was the Bishop of Chicago and then the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

Carl has kept in touch with our parish ever since, and visited us from time to time. Please join us!

FALL CLEAN-UP THANK YOU!

A big thanks to all of the volunteers who made our Fall Clean-up Sunday a big success.

Thanks for helping build the new fence to protect our AC unit, removing and storing window AC units, cleaning windows and installing storm windows, cleaning many rooms and offices in the Church, storing hoses, cleaning up pumpkin remains, clearing litter out of hedges, sprucing up the Labyrinth, and all the many other tasks that were accomplished.

Many individual contributions made our Church ready for the winter and started our preparation for the coming holidays.

Thanks to all who helped. David Schaper, Buildings and Grounds Management Team

SIGN UP FOR CHRISTMAS PAGEANT PARTS!

We are looking forward to our 2013 Christmas Pageant on Sunday, December 15th, and we hope that all St. Gregory's youth will participate.

And we need adult volunteers to help with the Pageant and Brunch. Thanks! Michele Appelbaum

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP YET FOR THE NEW PICTORIAL DIRECTORY?!

Sign up after each Sunday service or go on-line to the Lifetouch web page and sign up by clicking here.

There is a sign up outside the church office for hosting our photography days to help the process run smoothly. Thanks, Barb Schaper

SIGN-IFICANT IMPROVMENTS!

New parishioner Tom Mints has just finished a project three years in the making— transforming our two single-faced outdoor signs, which stood parallel to Deerfield and Wilmot Roads, into two double-faced signs perpendicular to Deerfield and Wilmot Roads and now visible to east-, west-, north-, and south-bound traffic!

A couple of years ago David Schaper had secured two copies of the two original signs. These had languished in an undisclosed location until Tom learned about the project. He proceeded to draft the designs and craft the frames to hold the double-faced signs. Dorthea White made sure we complied with JULIE, and provided additional assistance.

On Saturday, September 14, Tom secured the help of Boy Scout Troop 50 Committee Chairman Don Anderson and Troop Quartermaster (responsible for troop equipment and facilities) Scott Wolfe, and Scouts Ben Wolfe, Scott Stern, and Tristan Faro. Together they did the hard labor of digging the four deep post holes for the new frames.

Over the next several weeks, Tom perfected the frames, and with the help of Sharon Mitchell, another new parishioner, stained and waterproofed them.

This past Sunday, November 10, Tom put the finishing touches on the new signs, capping the posts and attaching the last pieces of trim to complete a professional and attractive labor of love.

I am so grateful to everyone who participated in this project, and especially to Tom who encountered and successfully surmounted all sorts of challenges along the way. Thank you, Tom!

Here's how the project unfolded:

Here's Sharon, deep staining the sign:

GET READY FOR ANOTHER DIALOGUE SERMON THIS SUNDAY!

For each passage ask yourself these questions, and bring your answers to the 8, 9, or 11 o'clock Practice:

1. Is there anything in this passage I don't like or that troubles me?

2. Where does this passage touch my life today?

3. What intrigues me?

4. How do I feel after reading this passage?

5. How is God inviting me to change?

Isaiah 65:17-25:

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD-- and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent-- its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

Luke 21:5-19:

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down." They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, `I am he!' and, `The time is near!' Do not go after them. "When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. "But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls."

November 10, 2013

+ In the Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

To understand this morning's Gospel we need to know two things about the Sadducees, the aristocrats who maintained the Jerusalem Temple.

First, they accepted only the first five books of the Bible as authoritative; and second, because the first five books of the Bible don't mention resurrection, the Sadducees didn't believe in resurrection.

So, to make fun of the whole idea of resurrection, they came up with a clever challenge based on a passage from the fifth book of the Bible. Please turn to Deuteronomy 25:5-10:

"When brothers reside together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her, taking her in marriage, and performing the duty of a husband's brother to her, and the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the deceased brother, so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel."

Now things get interesting!

"But if the man has no desire to marry his brother's widow, then his brother's widow shall go up to the elders at the gate and say, 'My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.' Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, 'I have no desire to marry her,' then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and declare, 'This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.' Throughout Israel his family shall be known as 'the house of him whose sandal was pulled off.'"

The legal term in the Bible for someone who helps a family member is the Hebrew word Go-el. The living brother acts as the Go-el for his dead brother by marrying his widow and providing his dead brother with an heir. There were other ways someone could act as Go-el: by avenging the murder of a family member, by redeeming a family member from slavery, and by redeeming family property sold off in hard times.

There's a story in the Bible about a Go-el who plays a crucial role in the Christian story. His name is Boaz.

Boaz was a relative of Naomi, and Naomi was married to Elimelech. Naomi and Elimelech had two sons, Chilion and Mahlon, and Mahlon married a Gentile named Ruth.

By the time Boaz comes on the scene, both Naomi and Ruth are widows. Boaz wants to be Naomi's Go-el, and Ruth's husband.

But there's a closer next-of-kin who has the first right to be the Go-el. Let's turn to Ruth 4:8 to see what happens!

"So when the next-of-king [go to the footnote— it says "gone with the right to redeem"— an English rendering of the word Go-el]. . . ."

"So when the next-of-kin said to Boaz, 'Acquire it for yourself,' he took off his sandal [remember Deuteronomy!]. Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, 'Today you are witnesses that I have acquired from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, to be my wife, to maintain the dead man's name on his inheritance, in order that the name of the dead may not be cut off from his kindred and from the gate of his native place; today you are witnesses.'"

To see why this story important to Christians, please turn to Matthew 1:1:

"An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. . . ."

Now skip down to verse 5: "and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab [like Ruth, Rahab was a Gentile; unlike Ruth, Rahab was also a prostitute— Jesus has an interesting genealogy!], and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David." (See also Luke 3:23-33.)

And now, back to this morning Gospel.

The Sadducees try to make a mockery of Jesus' teaching about Resurrection by supposing a woman who marries seven brothers, and then asking Jesus, "whose wife will the woman be?" in the resurrection.

Jesus answers by making a contrast between this age and the age of resurrection. In the age of resurrection, there won't be husbands and wives, only children of God.

And then Jesus completely turns the tables on the Sadducees by referring to the second book of the Bible, the book of Exodus:

"And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the [burning] bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive."

The Sadducees had imagined that if there were a resurrection, it would be pretty much like life as we know it now. But Jesus is telling the Sadducees that the resurrection is beyond imagining. No more than a baby in the womb can imagine the world beyond the womb, can we imagine the world beyond this life.

And of course, even this life may suddenly change beyond imagining.

Sometimes these unimaginable changes are wonderful: a child is born, and everything changes beyond imagining.

Or an unexpected promotion or job comes through, and everything changes beyond imagining.

But sometimes these unimaginable changes are terrible. And many if not most of us know personally how life can change beyond imaging with a shocking medical diagnosis or a sudden death.

Job knew how life can change beyond imagining.

As the book of Job opens, Job has a wonderful life: a wife and ten children, and so much livestock that he was considered "the greatest of all the people in the East" (Job 1:3).

But one day it was all taken away, and he himself was afflicted with painful sores from head to foot.

When his so-called friends come to him, they accuse him of hidden sins. Job's friends believed that bad things did not happen to good people. So they urge him to admit his sins and bring an end to his suffering.

With friends like these, who needs enemies? What Job needs is a Go-el, a brother to redeem his life. But Job has no Go-el.

But then from the depths of his suffering, his despair, and his doubt, Job realizes that he does indeed have a Go-el, and so he shouts in triumph:

"I know that my Redeemer"— the word is Go-el— "I know that my Redeemerlives, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and though this body be destroyed, yet shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself and my eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger"(The Book of Common Prayer, p. 469, alt.).

This present age is an age of living and dying. It is an age in which life changes beyond imagining for good and evil.

That's why the vows of Holy Matrimony are "for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health" (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 427).

That's why Jesus taught us to pray "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," because God's will is not always done on earth as it is in heaven.

And as our Collect this morning reminds us, Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and to make us children of God and heirs of eternal life" (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 236).

Just like Job, and just like Naomi and Ruth, you and I need a Go-el, and just like Job and Naomi and Ruth, you and I have a Go-el, a living brother who redeems our lives from sin and death, our living brother Jesus, who died for us and rose again, that we might have eternal life.

November 06, 2013

In the Parable of the Talents, Jesus tells the story of a man who gives money to his three servants according to their abilities.

When he returns he discovers that two of them have doubled their money, and to each of them he says, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master."

Robert Farrar Capon writes:

"Jesus works in leastness, littleness, lastness, lostness, and death: those, plus faith in him, are the only things his resurrecting grace passes judgment on; [our] good works . . . are praised only as sacraments, effective signs of the fidelity-in-littleness that the story is really about" (The Parables of Judgment (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1989), pp. 82-83.

Here's how Fr. Capon rewrites what the master says to the third servant who merely buried his money:

"I invited you into a fiduciary relationship with me. That's fiduciary, f-i-d: as is fides in Latin— and as in pistis in Greek . . . as in faith in plain English. . . . [W]hen I give you a gift [grace, forgiveness], I expect you to do business with it, to keep it moving [to forgive others as you are forgiven— see the Lord's Prayer], not just to keep it for yourself. . ." (Ibid., pp. 83-84).

FALL CLEAN-UP IS THIS SUNDAY!

Please join us following the Nine O'Clock Practice (at about 10:10 am) to get our buildings and grounds prepared for the winter. Come dressed to work and with any tools you may have for some light carpentering and yard work.

SPECIAL NEEDS:

"a couple of able-bodied people to help with the air conditioners"

"a couple of stalwart persons dressed to remove our outdoor posts"

"several hearty souls to put in storm windows"

"a few rugged individuals to store garden hoses"

There are tasks for everyone, young and old, big and small, so we need all the volunteers we can get to come to Founders Hall and pick up a task or two.

With enough people, everything can be done in less than an hour.

Thank you for your help. David Schaper, Buildings and Grounds Management Team

SIGN UP FOR CHRISTMAS PAGEANT PARTS!

We are looking forward to our 2013 Christmas Pageant. The date for the pageant is Sunday, December 15th.

We hope that all St. Gregory's youth will participate. Sign up for parts begin this week on Sunday, November 10th.

Also, we are in need of adult volunteers to help with both the Christmas Pageant and Holiday Brunch.

Thanks! Michele Appelbaum

COMMUNITY MEALS PROGRAM

On Sunday, November 17th, it will once again be our turn to serve at Christ Church, Waukegan's Community Meals. We will be preparing a hot meal for our guests.

We always need help to cut the vegetables for salads, soup and main dish, get the desserts ready, and cook the main dish.

Please consider becoming a part of this valuable ministry.

We are also looking for donations of desserts. Cakes are the most popular but cookies are also much appreciated.

There is a sign up on the hallway table. Thanks, Barbara Schaper

CAREER RENEWAL MINISTRY JOB SEARCH COACHING

Career Renewal is a support ministry for those seeking employment, co-sponsored by Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church and St. Gregory's Episcopal Church.

On Sunday, November 24 at 10:10 am we are welcoming back the Rev. Canon Carl Gerdau, perhaps the Anglican Communion's only Interim Rector Emeritus! It was Carl who helped St. Gregory's accomplish the necessary tasks before calling its new Rector back in 1988 (that would be me), and after us he served as the Bishop of Chicago's right hand man, and followed Frank Griswold to New York when he was elected the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. In all the years since then, Carl has kept in touch with our parish, and visited us from time to time. Join us!

Donations will support Moraine Township and West Deerfield Township Food Pantries and Lake County PADS.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP YET FOR THE NEW PICTORIAL DIRECTORY?!

Make sure your picture is included in our new pictorial directory. (And receive a free 8"x10" photo!)

I will be available after each Sunday service to help you sign up.

For your convenience you may also go on-line to the Lifetouch web page and sign up from home by clicking here.

We are also looking for photos for our activities pages. Please take a picture of your group in the next month and send it to me at bschaper7@aol.com, indicating "St. G pictorial directory" and the name of your group on the subject line.

Finally, we need hosts and hostesses for our photography days. There is a sign up outside the church office. Hosting duties are very easy and help the process run smoothly.

Last Sunday the Middle and Senior High Youth Group went shopping for a family of four for the Cathedral Shelter Christmas Basket program. We had a great time shopping together and dinner afterwards.

Thanks to the generosity of our Youth Group families and savvy shopping of our youth group members, we were able to get all of the gifts our family asked to have for Christmas! Bret Chandler

LAST SUNDAY THE MISSIONS BOARD HEARD BOTH GRIM AND GOOD NEWS FROM BILL FOLTZ:

The homelessness rate for youth in parts of Lake County is astoundingly high. For the 2012-13 school year, Waukegan School District 60 reported that over 300 students (K-12) were listed as "homeless" at some point during the term. The Night Ministry in Chicago focuses specifically on providing emergency housing assistance and counseling to young men and women in this age group.

Meredith Potter and I are part of a team that hopes to bring a Night Ministry-type program to northern Lake County. We hope to have an overnight shelter in place sometime during the next few months. The Missions Board at St. Gregory's has been extremely supportive since this initiative began last year, including seed money and valuable suggestions and advice. I will keep the congregation updated on our progress. Peace, Bill Foltz

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

So today we celebrate All Saints Day.

It's the Day we hold up to God and to ourselves

all those saints from the past and present

who enrich our lives.

It's such an important day that we transferred from Friday.

And yesterday was All Souls Day,

The Day we hold up to God and to ourselves

all those whom we love, but see no more.

So what is a Saint? A saint is one whom God blesses.

A saint is one whom God loves.

I served at Helen Leitz' funeral yesterday afternoon.

Many of you were there.

Because I was there, I missed Al Easterwood's funeral. He had been the Rector when I made my Cursillo weekend, almost thirty years ago,
and was the husband of a long-term and well-loved staff member of the diocese.

I served at Harry Davis' funeral the previous Saturday.

Many of you were there.

Afterwards, I went up to Grayslake and attended the funeral of the sister of a friend from work.

The previous Saturday, I went to a deacon event, and so I missed the funeral of Kurt Olson, a long-time priest of this Diocese, who had been my Spiritual Director when I was in deacon school,
almost twenty years ago.

The Saturday before that, I attended my mother's funeral.

Many of you were there.

A couple weeks before that, I served at Dan Aberson's funeral, who I knew in highschool, and who was only one year older than I am.

Many of you were there.

Only a couple of weeks before that, I served at Al Hawkes' funeral.

Many of you were there.

It's been a rough autumn. So what is a Saint?

A saint is one whom God blesses.

A saint is one whom God loves.

A story is told about a saint, a Doctor of the Church,

St Theresa of Avila,

who was active in the early 1500s or so.

She had been to town getting food and supplies for the convent,

and was coming back down the road.

and the cart hit a bump, or the wheel got stuck in a rut,

and the cart overturned

and all the food for the convent for the month fell in the bog and was ruined.

And Saint Theresa looked up to God and said,

"What's that all about?!"

And God said to her,

"I treat all my friends that way!"

And the Saint said to God, "Well, it's no wonder you have so few then!"

I treat all my friends this way.

So with that in mind, let's see what we can see in the letter of Paul to the Ephesians. Which may or may not actually have been written by Paul.

And which may or may not actually have been written to the Ephesians. Life is funny that way sometimes.

But if it was Paul writing, he was writing in chains,

probably in Rome, waiting for his trial and execution.

And if it was the church in Ephesus to whom he was writing

– the saints in Ephesus to whom he was writing,

they were having the hardest time

trying to figure out how Gentiles and Jews might live together

in this new life in Christ.

And Paul says that, "In Christ we have obtained an inheritance … so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory."

The word which comes to us there as "inheritance"

comes from the Greek word which means "to draw lots," or "to gamble." And the word which comes to us as "hope" is probably better translated as "trust."

So: 'In Christ we won the draw … so that we, who first trusted in Christ, might live for the praise of Christ's glory.'

When I was thrashing around this week, trying to convince the Holy Spirit to show up in this sermon, I ran across a quotation from one of the church's earliest theologians: One of the church's earliest saints:

Iranaeus, who learned from St Polycarp, who learned from St John, who wrote the Gospel.

He said:

"The glory of God is the person fully alive, and the life of the person is the vision of God."

~ Against Heresies

So if we put those things together, we get something like this:

'In Christ we won the draw … so that we, who first trusted in Christ, might live for the praise of [people who are fully alive], for the praise of [people filled with the vision of God]'

The praise of people filled with the vision of God.

So who are these people filled with the vision of God? They are the saints. They are those whom God loves. They are those whom God blesses.

Jesus tells us today that we are the saints: that we are those whom God loves, we are those whom God blesses.

We who are poor are those whom God loves;We who are poor are those whom God blesses. We who are hungry; We who are weeping; We who are hated.

I treat all my friends this way.

The fact is, with God or without God, people get sick, people die, poor people starve.

Terrible things happen to those who believe.And terrible things happen to those who don't. Terrible things happen.

So it isn't that God treats us especially well, or especially badlySo it isn't that God treats anyone especially well, or especially badly

We are all God's friends.

It's that we, who God loves, and who God blesses, are given the gift of looking – within, and of looking beyond,

To see the hand of God at work, not in the pain and loss, but through the pain and loss.

It is through being loved by God that we, who are sinful, become clean.It is through being loved by God that we, who are broken, become whole.It is through being loved by God that we, who are empty, become complete.

But we are made clean, and whole, and complete, not for our own sake, but for the sake of all those who are sinful, and broken, and empty.

So that we may all communicate the love of God

to those with whom we live and work and worship, So that they may be made fully alive.

So that we may join Theresa of Avila, and,

with authority born of experience, say to our friends,

Let nothing disturb you,

Let nothing frighten you,

All things are passing away:

God never changes.

Patience obtains all things

Whoever has God lacks nothing;

God alone suffices.

~ St Theresa's Bookmark

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.